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Hello there,

We at Awaken Realms are running a Dakka exclusive contest! You can win the Primarch Mortarion painted by our brush – as shown below:



So what does it take to win this beauty? Easy, just describe the most unique, interesting and captivating idea for an army (we’re not limiting the game system – Warhammer 40K & Fantasy are both welcome, as are any other system – skirmish or full-fledged wargame). It can be a story, theme, paintjob or conversion idea or everything combined – the more, the better to fully describe your vision and captivate us with it! Just make sure it is unique, coherent and imaginative.

Starting now, you have a full week to post your idea right in this very thread – the contest will end on July 15th at 11:59pm (GMT). Then we'll read through all of the entries posted and select the one that the combined forces of our studio like the best. Note that in the case of highly similar entry ideas, the one posted first will usually be given precedence...and if you edit your submission post for any reason the date/time of that last edit will be what we go by.

Please also take a look at our website's gallery – visit us to gain some inspiration and check back often, as we update it everyday with something new. Also, if you'd like to make sure you never miss examples of our best work that can help inspire your own projects, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (at the bottom of the site).

More photos of the model:

May as well try

I've had an idea for a single conversion that could work as an army; Its 40k Chaos Marines with a very conversion/story driven theme

The Story:
on a backwater world of the Imperium, a Clockmaker sees his Parents and his newly wed wife killed by the Adeptus Arbites for daring to speak against the Imperial Governors policy of persecuting the Mutant population. distraught and furious, full of sorrow he locks himself inside his workshop and cries hatred and sorrow at what, he see's, the Emperor has done. That night, while in restless sleep, he receives a vision from a shining golden figure, with a voice that seemed to speak of carnality and beauty. the figure promised to soothe his hurt and gifted him with an idea. feverish he awoke and set to work, gathering all the materials he had too him. six weeks straight he laboured, finally consecrating his new creation in the blood of an innocent he had lured in. Before him was the very thing the seductive angel had shown him. a giant angel of cogs and gears, with metal claws and serrated wings. a Seraph of beautiful destruction. His creation looked at his creator and promised him vengeance.

Basically a Chaos Marine Army which uses extensive conversions with cogs and gears. Basically Steampunk Space Marines taken to the next level
In the army you'd have the now Slaanesh corrupted Clockmaker and his first creation, the Seraph and the troops, a couple of Raptor squads maybe an interestingly converted War talon squad with Ornate Clockwork Chosen and 2-4 more basic Chaos Marine squads, perhaps with Mutant Cultists. it would be highly complex but would look good if done right, by someone with enough skill (such as yourselves )

Hope you like it Your stuff is awesome btw

I'd suggest a 30k diorama based off the scene in Platoon where Elias is being chased down.
Have a a loyalist perhaps Raven Guard running from a bunch of world eaters, his armor totally battered, bleeding, amidst the chaos of an istvaan battlefield with a single loyalist flyer circling overhead trying to extract him "We still got one on the deck down there".

When it comes to 40K there are 3 armies I'd like to see (well, a full plastic Sisters range is top of the list but that's not new).

1. True AI based faction:
You might think Necrons would fit in here but they don't, Necrons have nothing to do with AI, they are just sentient beings who've transferred from flesh to machine (Bonus points to anyone who gets this: What started as a conflict over the transfer from flesh to machine escalated into a war that has decimated a million worlds).

I want cold calculating machines who don't reason, can't be bargained with and will never stop until your entire species is dead. Basically I want the Matrix or Skynet, it has happened in the 40K lore, this is why AI is banned by the imperium.

2. Insect Faction:
I want a real bug faction, people call the Tyranids bugs but they aren't, they have almost nothing in common with bugs from an aesthetic point of view. They have a hive mind that controls them, basically a queen and then different types of worker or warrior bugs. I'd say Nids are more like beasts than bugs.

What I'd want is for the bugs on Murder (read the first Horus Heresy book) to start expanding and traveling around the solar system. I want creatures that actually look like bugs, Starship troopers come to mind, that's what I pictured in my head when I read abour the Arachnids on Murder. I want a true bug faction with actual bugs. Then again no matter how you look at it it would basically be the Tyranids with another aesthetic.


3. I would like a beastmen faction, abhumans who've been declared exterminatus but have built their own empire where refugees of other abhumans have gathered.
I basically just want catgirls, doggirls, lamia, centaur, spiders and all the rest.
Dog soldiers - Guardsmen
Lamia jungle and water specialists - Scions
Cat close combat specialists - Death Cult
Lizard/Kobold infiltrators - Snipers/Ratlings
Centaur heavy weapons - Rough Riders but also able to take heavy weapons
Spider sabotage specialists - Veterans
Minotaur heavy fighters - Ogryn

I'd love to see this but I don't think it will ever happen, not unless I'd personally fund it or trough some kickstarter.

Those pictures are certainly.....uhm.....unique.

 Ratius wrote:
Those pictures are certainly.....uhm.....unique.

5 years ago I was asking why no one was making female models? I said there was a huge gap in the market that no one was willing to fill, then came Raging Heroes and now female minis are all over the place.

Now I wonder why no one makes the models I've suggested above, too niche? No community interest? I'm sure it would be pretty easy to fund a range of 5 models for 5 kits. Then again I'm just some weirdo who wants female minis! I think the concept is cool and I don't know of a single manufacturer who makes modern or sci-fi extraspecies models other than Infinity.

Heck you don't even need to create whole models, all you need are the animal parts, then you could glue whatever miniature range torso on top of them.
For cats and dogs you only need legs, hands and head. Take whatever torso and cut off the hands from those arms and glue in the replacements.

Angry chaos mushrooms. Yes. You know you love it.

A true scale Custodes army done with the new Sigmar minis.

An Admech/Skitarii army composed entirely of Doctor Who villains. Dalek Kataphrons, Cybermen Skitarii, Davros as an HQ.

A 30k 2nd or 11th Legion army. Go for something really divergent. All female perhaps. Or one that embraced AI to the point they risked plunging the Imperium into another Age of Strife.

I would love to have an entire Infinity army (Yu Jing) Done up in the style of Appleseed. Love the anime a lot,

It's not that exciting but I'm a man of simple tastes

The Adeptus Mechanicus is a stiff, unchanging organisation that does not allow development or innovation.

The Tau Empire is a swiftly expanding empire with ideals of development and innovation throughout.

Now what if the Empire were to take a system with a forgeworld lead by a particularly rebellious - and in some views, brilliant Magos - that would then offer their production power in exchange for some Tau technology goodies?

I'd see a great converted Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus army come out of that with a whole bunch of Tau bits scattered throughtout - say, pulse weapons on Kataphrons and Sicarian infiltrators with Tau heads - I'm sure someone could find some awesome conversions to do.

I'm sure a studio that can paint something like that could easily convert something awesome.

What the world needs is moar cowbell... Chaos Noise Knight!

High frequency tuning fork to replace the chain sword.
Since we know it's all about that bass why not slap a giant jackhammer looking bass cannon in place of the thermal cannon.
Last but not least mount a cowbell on the top of the Knight as a Doom Siren of sorts!

I would like you guys doing a imperial navy themed army using rules of either the tempest militarium or Elysian army from FW.

Model wise you can use assorted scions, Cadians, marine scout shotguns as navy armsmen as veterans. Valkyries and other assorted fliers for vehicles. Perhaps including a inquisitor as the commander; his/her personal retinue can be unique, giving you many modeling opportunities.

Edit: A female inquisitor like Amberly Vale from BL Ciaphas Cain novels, maybe even Cain himself as a lord commissar, with Jurgen the blank holding a meltagun.

For years I've had the idea knocking around in my head for an army that could be fielded as either Blood Angels or Chaos Marines, heavily converted from bits for both armies.

My vision for how the force came to be is that the psychic backlash from Sanguinius's death ripped through the minds of his legion, essentially creating the first wave of Death Company. Driven by rage and a lust for revenge, those who succumbed chased the forces of Chaos through the warp, and though they have been changed by their constant exposure to Chaos, they continue the fight to avenge their fallen primarch.

I WANT DARK MECHANICUS!!

But for real(unless you really like that and think it should win! ) a race of like angels, not space marines, or gods would be cool, the imperium would hate them(screw religon and xenos scum!) and they could be like the ying to chaos' yang! I dunno, just impulse typing and my humble opinion.

My idea for an army is basically Angels of the imperium. They would be made of of some stormclast eternal parts, some sanctuary guard parts (mostly wings) and some black templar parts and some 30k loyalist marine parts. They would use most of the same rules for deamons and could be summoned by imperial psyches instead of deamons. their fluff would be that they were the spirits of imperial saints and heros who's souls left and imprint in the warp and could be summoned to fight enemies of the imperium. not only would they look awesome but they would let imperial psyches take advantage of demonology without killing the fluff.

An IG army of ghosts. After all, guardsmen as considered so expendable that there must be some way of bringing them back. The army should use the IA12 DKoK list for its rules, to gain access to infantry platoons that respawn when they are killed, but could use any range of models. And it should obviously be infantry-heavy. Maybe the tanks and other support units should be modeled and painted as living soldiers, while their comrades continue to serve even in death? Imagine a living commander ordering the charge, as the endless ranks of the honored martyrs appear out of the smoke.

A Chaos Space Marine army based on the characters in Five Nights at Freddy's. Bonus points if Markiplier is a Demon Prince.

'Freddy Squad' would be a squad of Chosen, 'Bonnie Squad' and 'Chica Squad' would each be basic Chaos Marines, and 'Foxy Squad' would be a squad of Raptors.

Here is some fluff from the armies i created;

Buddhist Space marine army

Why the Second legion disappeared.(possible name the Enlightened?)

The Second Primarch was whisked away like his 19 other Brothers. But instead
of being send to a war torn planet, he was send to the planet Gautama, were
people followed the Buddhist believes. He was found by local Buddhist Monks,
Instantly noticing that this kid was special they names him Siddhartha,
after Buddha himself, He was taken to temple and trained in the Buddhist
teachings and the martial arts. He bested all comers with his martial
skill but he was known for his kindness and piety.

When The Emperor finally landed he did not find are hardened fighter but a
peacefull spiritual leader. I know why you have come father, i will try to
bring peace to this stricken universe. And During the great Crusade he was
several times criticised by the Emperor by not taken a planet by force. Most
of his planets were gained by peacetreaties and mutual pacts even with
Aliens! (most of these planets were taken back forcefully after the Horus
Heresy and the Xenos filth was eradicated). Siddhartha, became more and more
disenchanted with his Fathers ways, He thought he found in Horus someone
with the same convictions, But after Davin Horus Changed, And Siddhartha
knew That Horus lost his way. Siddhartha tried to reason With Horus, but
after almost a fight broke out between Abbadon and Siddhartha, Siddhartha
removed himself from the crusade, He sent a message to the emperor, but the
Chaos powers made sure that message reached the emperor all Garbled up. The
Only thing the Emperor and His staff could make from it is that His Pacifist
Son and his chapter had gone rogue. Angry because of his son's treachery he
commanded that all records of Siddhartha chapter should be deleted from the
records. (the emperor did not know yet of Horus treachery and Siddhartha was
low on the emperors favourite son's list). He called for a strike on
Siddhartha's home world, but by the time the Army reached Gautama the
population was gone. Siddhartha and his fleet were allready on his way to
uncharted space.

Ideas for the army;
Dark Angel and certain Black Templar bodies would be perfect as Battle
Monks, Scouts would be more difficult as they need all to have shave head
and monk robes (eastern style). Close combat weapons could inspired by
ancient Indian weapons and/or Chinese budhist armies. Color would light
orange.

Rules?
Well there should be a dice roll for battle to determine if there is a fight
at all! so if the roll would succeed (for example on a 6) there would be
peacefull resolution resulting in a draw (Damn no battle :p) Furthermore
Siddhartha army will always go second as they only fight back when fired
upon.

Hello Kitty Marines!

Hello Kitticus is a smaller power of chaos, when slaneesh emerged Hello Kitticus was a benevolent god, whom was sucked into the chaos Maelstrom and was changed forever. It ideals of cuteness was still there but now perverted. It looked on the Human empire with disdain, all these darkness and fear inspiring architecture, Hello Kitticus would bring cuteness and loveliness back to the imperium even if it would be destroy it in the process.
The bright cats space marine chapter would be the first to be converted. On the just liberated planet of Sanrio, Chapter commander Halokaton found a small cute statue, after the battle. He felt an unnatural attraction to this statue and secretly he took it with him as a spoil of war and hid it in his chamber. The following campaigns Hello Kitticus slowly corrupted the chapter commander, and Halo was converted to the ways of cuteness. He hid the idol at the chapter chapel and after him the chaplains were the first to convert. It was during the charmy campaign that the
whole chapter changed and showed its "true" color, dropping their former chapter colors the marines emerged in a multitude of bright colors. Hello Kitticus was pleased and gave the marines the gift of its face. The chapter now renamed to the hello kitty chapter, massacred their allies in a cute fashion, who fled in confusion and disarray because of the mental anguish caused by the intolerable cuteness level.

When the inquisition later came to investigate the planet, they were horrified to find joyfull happy people worshipping, idols of hello kitty, wearing cute clothes and accessories and had painted their cities in joyful colors, singing songs of praise for Hello Kitticus. The inquisition dealt accordingly with this heresy of worshipping a false god and ordered Exterminatus.

But the Hello Kitty Chapter already had left for another planet to show the cute ways of Hello Kitticus

Doom Bringers Space Marine chapter

It was after the Istvan Campaign, that seventy space marines chose for the Emperor, They Mutinied for the
sake of the Empire turning against their chapters and their warmaster HORUS.
Were these marines traitors or the most loyal of them all?
Seventy marines: fifteen World Eaters, twelve Death Guard, twenty from the Thousand Sons, ten Luna
Wolves, ten Emperor's Children and the 3 officers who accompanied them. But there were more, from
every chapter that defected to HORUS, there were some who had their doubts (From the Iron Warriors,
Night Lords, The Word Bearers, Alpha Legion, Etc). Some were killed escaping their chapter and only a few
could escape their traitorous brothers. The Inquisition turned those who reached Terra inside out. Even
while going through this horrid torture their faith in the Emperor was unshaken. Now the Emperor knew that
this impossible news was true, that the inconceivable was at hand, marines fighting marines.

As the war was raging on, more chapters crossed over to HORUS, and consequential some of these
marines chose for the Emperor. These Marines were kept under close guard and were subjected to
numerous loyalty tests. Only a few marines were traitor spies and these were dealt with.
When the final confrontation was about to start, the battle at HORUS rebel command centre. The Loyal
"defected" marines were also teleported in. The bitter hatred and ferocity with which they fought their former
mutated battle brothers surprised the other loyal marines. Where other marines screamed in agony because
of the horrors they had seen, these "defected" marines fought in almost in a berserker rage. They fought
hard but never reached Horus. But they managed to keep the chaos renegades at bay. So the Emperor
could fight HORUS without being interrupted by traitor marines. The fight between the Emperor and HORUS
was grim but in the end the Emperor was victorious. Of the loyal "defected " marines only a few were slain.

The Emperor, now in his golden throne because of his injuries was still conscious, redirected the
organisation of the space marine chapters. The emperor had sensed the DOOM BRINGERS Immunity
against Chaos, so their task was clear, they would become a chapter specialised in hunting these traitor
marines down, directly under the Emperors Command.
In the early years the inquisition closely watched the marines. It became clear that this chapter is the most
loyal chapter to the Emperor. The only setback is their distrust to the other chapters. And because they are
directly under the emperors command their dealings with the high lords of Terra and the inquisition are
strained. And so the DOOM BRINGERS chapter was born.
Because the chapter was not involved in the reorganisation of the other chapters their organisation has not
the limitation that other chapters have. For example the DOOM BRINGERS currently consists of about 570
thousand marines, have their own space fleet, Titan Legion, weapon factory and are thus totally self
sufficient.
The Doom Bringers extreme hatred against chaos renegades. Has left them with animosity against almost
all other chapters with a few exceptions. So you have to take animosity tests whenever
you fight together with other chapters. One exception is the Dark Angels chapter. The Doom Bringers cannot fight alongside them (The Doom Bringers have once captured some of the Fallen, so they know the truth of the
treachery of the Dark Angels during the Horus Heresy) they see them as traitors and will attack them on
sight. Because Doom Bringers Hate Chaos Renegades use the rules for hatred, the Doom Bringers can
make a ld. test to restrain themselves or choose to forego the test and attack them.

I want a night/dawn themed army. The army itself is not that important, you can pull this off with Space Marines just as well as with Infinity Nomads but i´d really like to see a whole army that is painted and based as if the sun was going down, all in a monochromatic style maybe with orange hues to show the rising/falling sun. This gives plenty of opportunities for over-the-top OSL. I imagine that would be quite a challenge but if anyone can pull this off, it´s you guys!
Bonus points if you find a way to depict rain and lightning on non-diorama minis!

The fluff I am working on right now follows a loyalist company/section of Death Guard in the decades after the Heresy.
As well as trying to establish a sense of identity and honour in the wake of the loss of their Primarch, the group is faced with suspicion by some sects of the Imperium, whilst others are quite happy to accept them as faithful allies.
As far as styling is concerned, the army would still wear Death Guard colors but not the emblem, replacing it with the number XIV to separate them from their traitorous brethren. The armour would be scuffed and scared, partly from the Heresy itself, and partly from the rare nature of any Imperial re-supply. Armour classes would be mixed, with everything from MkIV-ish onwards appearing somewhere, as the force would be made out of the surviving loyalists, not just a coherent company. At the head of the force would be a collection of scythe welding terminators and the company commander.
Mechanised armour would be kept to a minimum so as to emphasize the idea of the Death Guard being the ultimate infantry-men, but dreadnoughts and terminators would be found in abundance, as they are the ideal infantry units, able to weather any terrain.

The Riders of Ruination

A Slanneshi themed warband of bikes and fast moving vehicles. The Lord's bike is a mostrous convertion with a tracked rear end and a mounted doom siren. All bikes are equiped with personal dirge casters and sonic blasters. Four champions painted like the members of KISS, and a land raider with a stage full of pyroteknics on top. For support they have tri-las predators and a pair of maulerfiends named Simon and Garfunkle. The troops choices will be cultists lead by Joey, Tommy, Johnny and Dee Dee. For air superourity a fire raptor with colored spotlights and Dropkick Muphey's inspired paintjob. The Deamon Prince will of course be Ronny James Dio. And finally a Sonic Dreadnaught with Keith Richards inside, because he will never die.

Off the back of Jurassic World, and having an old affiinity for Dino Riders, I think it would be cool to see an almost Dinosaur army for 40k. You could either have Lizardmen Style riders on the larger Dinosaurs (or perhaps they could even be a lost human faction).

I think it might work better with Lizards as there could be a tie in that Earth was once one of their long last territories, where their colonists almost de-evolved. It would be ironic that the Imperium would now be trying to conquer them. Especially as they would have ties to human evolution somehow and the Inquisition want to stop at nothing to destroy them for fear that the populous learn that they evolved from a 'Xenos' species




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Or a Futurama themed army! Let's see how well the Tyranids would do against Captain Zapp Brannigan sending wave after wave of his troops at them until they were full and could no longer consume anymore biomass...

This is an idea I almost started but with kids and other painting projects I will probably never get around to.

Theme: A Dryad themed Eldar Iyanden army. The story would be something along the lines of an Eldar exodite world using what resources where available to them to make a Wraith Army. Instead of an Infinity Circuit they would use an infinity tree to store spirit stones, Instead of shaping the wraithbone to its standard form they wanted a more natural look to blend into the environment to protect the Infinity tree.

Models:
Wraith Infantry: Using the GW dryad models and Eldar wraith weapons kits. Using green stuff to model the arm branch's onto the weapons to make it look like the branches have over take the weapons.
Wraith Knights: Using the new Treeman models and grafting the weapons onto it using green stuff.
Seer's: Using the Fantasty Wizards or Hero's from the Wood Elf line with 40k spirit weapons.
Aspects: Converting wood elf models to fit what was needed. Glad guard with Shuriken Catapults for Avengers, Scorpions, Banshee's, use wardancers with some elder 40k bits to Exodite them up a bit.
Jet bikes: Dryads with butterfly wings and grafted weapons
Vehicles: I had ideas to take out around 25 - 50% of the vehicle and replace it with interwoven branches and leaves. Replacing the driver with over grown branches and a dryad head.

Display:
A 2x2 board with a infinity tree in the middle. Wood land growth all over the rest of the board painted in the scheme below.

Paint Scheme:
I liked the idea of white bark with red leaves to make it pop. similar to this http://www.7photographyquestions.com/images/19/white_birch_tree.jpg

I hope that is enough, let me know if you need me to elaborate more. Hopefully I'll eventually get around to it!

On a barren moon, just caressed by the edge of the Maelstrom, a warband of Tzeentch-aligned Chaos Space Marines has been stranded. Their battle cruiser damaged, their warpsmith killed, they face the prospect of survival on a bleak, desolate world, devoid of all but the hardiest life. In their desperation, they turn to the Lord of Change, praying for the fortitude and the tenacity to survive the hardships to come. Their prayers repeatedly go unanswered until, in their blackest hour, they begin to turn on one another, cannibalizing first the warlord that led them to this damned fate and offering his gnawed bones as sacrifice to each of the Chaos Gods in turn. In that instant, Grandfather Nurgle's touch reaches out from the Maelstrom, a tendril of Warp energy stroking the moon almost tenderly. The Chaos marines writhe and twist within their armor, their skin bursting first with pustules and boils as expected, and then with coarse, black fur. Their skulls elongate, their legs bend up and backward, and talons sprout from their fingertips. Soon, an army of rat-men stand where the warband once was, blessed with the touch of their new lord Nurgle.

The Warp Brethren are no more. The Muroidean Scavengers have taken their place, and the galaxy will never be the same.

(As it turns out, a lot of Skaven heads and decorative bits will fit VERY well on CSM bodies! I've always loved the Skaven, with their insane lightning-tech and their warpstone addiction, and I figured there was no better place to put them than 40k! Plus, the End Times stuff has some really cool models. Skreech Verminking could easily function as a c.a. Great Unclean One, a Hell Pit Abomination would make a fantastic Soul Grinder, and the Stormfiends function beautifully as either Mutilators or Obliterators! Nurgle seems the most rat-like, and it makes a nice departure from his overused "fly" themes, giving him a different but equally frightening vermin to use to spread his plagues.)

Beast Masters of Commorragh;

This idea would centre around a Dark Eldar raiding force made up primarily of beast masters. Lots of different Xenos specimens, altered genetics and bio engineered monstrosities being herded to war. A couple of converted raiders decked out with hunting gear, one or two squads of Dark Eldar warriors tooled up as hunters. There is lots of potential with the DE that is not often taken advantage of. The paint scheme would not be traditional uniform but a motley bunch of mismatched armour and colour.

I have often said that the 40k universe is an excellent vehicle for telling stories about the human condition and so with that in mind I present my themed army idea.

A simple man, living a simple life has his hopes and dreams shattered when a Chaos Warband raids his home planet. This man watches as his family is butchered and his people enslaved. He hides in the ruins of his city and prays for deliverance. Perhaps the Emperor is listening and perhaps it is only luck, but in that instant a telltale smoke plume streaks across the sky. A Drop Pod lands with an earth shattering boom and 10 giant figures emerge, clad in blue and white armour. It is the Novamarines, righteous sons of the Ultramarines and they eradicate the Chaos Warband as if they posed no more threat than a swaddling babe. The man looks on at the ensuing carnage and curses himself. If only he had that power, if only he were a Space Marine! He could have saved his family, he could have saved at least someone...

... An idea forms in the man's mind and he approaches the Novamarines as they make ready to disembark. He calls to them and names them heroes, he rails at his inadequate body, how not made for war is the human form! He pleads with them, he begs to become a Space Marine but his requests are denied. The Novamarines tell the man that not just anyone may become a Space Marine, they say they cannot let him join them. His heart falls, and the look on his face prompts the Novamarine leader to swear the man an oath. If he can make the journey to Macragge and speak his prayer to the enshrined body of the Ultramarines Primarch, then perhaps he may have what it takes.

Oh how life throws one insult after another at the man! How can he make that voyage, alone and unaided? Just then a handful of other survivors emerge. They too witnessed the Novamarines, and they saw too the exchange between grieving man and master of war. They too felt those same things in their hearts and they as well wish only for vengeance. The man looks upon the ragged band of survivors as they scavenge for wargear and begin arming themselves. Perhaps?

... More survivors now rally around the man and before long a crew is assembled and an old cargo freighter refitted. The rag tag army, if such it can be called, sets out westward in hopes of making for Macragge and fulfilling the Novamarines mission. Yet this is no easy journey! Along the way the man and his army face several foes, intent on their destruction, yet each time they manage to win, adding more and more to their arsenal. Yet with every battle, more and more people flock to the cause of the man, each seeking their own personal revenge, each as inspired by the bravery of the man and his goal as the next.

... Orks, Tau, the dreaded Eldar, even the warp fights against this man and his cause but the ghosts of his family and his people drive him onwards. He becomes a consummate fighter, and so too do his men. Ever growing into a force to be reckoned with the man trudges inexorably towards Macragge and the promise of ascension.

Shortly before the man reaches Macragge however he is discovered by the Imperium. Reports of an army moving towards the Ultramar Sector speak of a small but highly efficient force, comprised of a wide variety of units and wargear. This leads to Marneus Calgar himself going out with his Honour Guard to intercept the unknown army. When Marneus does meet the foe he is surprised to see all manner of imperial technology and forces. Knowing that something is amiss Marneus Calgar opens a comm link to the lead ship. The man's face fill the viewscreen in front of Calgar and instantly the wise old Marine knows this is no enemy. With a voice laden with years of hardship and sorrow the man makes his request...

... I have come to pledge my life to your Primarch. I will not be dissuaded. My fleet shall vaporize you if you resist, for we are friends but we come with a purpose and we shall not be denied.

The end.

What do you think of that? A journey across the stars to become a Space Marine. How does the army look and function? Well first off its an allied army lead by Marneus Calgar and seconded by a custom made Captain who represents the man. It is also an unbound army that utilizes units from virtually all the imperial factions. The man spends a lot of time out in space and along the way makes a lot of allies. People feel compelled to join him because his cause is pure, and somewhere in the warp the Emperor is guiding the man and watching over him.

This idea allows us to make full use of allies and unbound to create an army that is truly unique in its composition, but also makes a lot of sense. Most times these two rules get a bad rep because people will min max each unit to make the best possible army, while not really delving into what brings such disparate forces together. With a compelling backstory however, allies and unbound can be used as a storytelling medium quite unlike any other. In this case one can look at each unit and find a viable reason for them being there. Perhaps that IG platoon thought the man was an enemy and attacked him at first and later on realized their mistake, joining him in his quest. Perhaps those Sisters of Battle joined him because they wanted to keep an eye on a potential heretic and now fight beside the man as an honour guard? Maybe a Stormraven pilot decides to abandon his increasingly questionable comrades and joins the man so as to make a penitent crusade of sorts?

The possibilities in army composition are endless, but without a driving force bringing all these units together its just cheese. Give a model a story and it will write its own history.

 LeCacty wrote:
Angry chaos mushrooms. Yes. You know you love it.

That actually sounds really cool.

40k Alpha Legion / Thousand Sons loyalist battle host.

Basically they have been secretly participating with Chaos in order to gain strategic advantages to use against Chaos.

Their order contains no demons and at most Chaos spawn as those brothers too weak to fight Chaos have been tricked into disappointing the dark gods to spawnhood.

Ahriman himself as well as Cypher lead this host along with an extremely powerful sorcerer of unknown origins. Along with them are their Thousand Sons brothers and Oblitorators who have sworn to destroy the powers that created their current form. Many of these Ruberic marines have been fighting for so long that limbs and parts of their armour are missing (can use a cool clear plastic looking piece to represent the "soul" still inside).

The Alpha Legion reveal that they have been working against Chaos since the beginning and are now ready to execute their plan to seal the eye once and for all.

The Alpha Legion warriors will look very much like preheresy marines, with little or no mutations, and will utilize mixed detachments of cultists and imperial guard.

The army of Gotts Blitz

In the year 1620 Europe has been embroiled in war for the past five years. As armies of protestant and catholic collide and turn the country side into a slaughter pit, a more insidious force is at work. In a flash of a ritual that almost smashed the world apart, our earth was changed with the crash of four different realities onto ours. Our world smashed together the realities of dwarfs, elves, orcs and demon.

These races have come into contact with humanity and what was once a war for Europe has become a war for the future of the world.

It is now the year 1635 and the world has changed to become near unrecognizable. Once proud empires have crumbled or are assailed by the new forces in the world. Uncounted millions have been lost in the past 15 years and still more deaths are on their way. Despite the world going to hell there is hope yet that civilization can be saved.
The armies of the Spanish Empire have retreated from German soil and have formed a strong alliance with France, but for all tense and purposes the Holy Roman Empire has fallen. But in the Germanies a new force has come to fill the void the Holy Roman Empire. Called the Imperium of the North it's army is a combination of Swedish commanders, German peasants and dwarven holds and it has taken the name of Gotts Blitz, gods lightning.

Gott's Blitz is a force of the times, built upon the idea of battalias, it has moved away from pikes as the main weapon of choice to fire locks. Using the ingenuity of dwarfs these fire locks have become repeaters with multiple barrel rifles that allow the user to fire 6 shots in rapid succession. There is also the long barreled sharp shooter rifle developed by a group of gunsmiths and dwarfs called the Jeager, its range and accuracy able to shoot the feather off a cap of a cavalry man at a thousand yards.

In addition to the small arms are the highly developed artillery that now includes cartilage based breach loading cannons, to muzzle loading rifle cannons or even the deadly rotating cannon. This artillery act as support weapons able to take on many of gigantic and monstrous creatures that have emerged in the world and have already torn down once great cities. These guns range from light horse drawn artillery to the heavy 'City Breaches' with long columns of horses to carry them to the sieges.

Beyond the artillery are the machines of war from the dreams of mad men given form. Steam powered and plate armored, the Fire Leviathans bleach skin boiling steam and unleash a fusillade of light cannon shots. But as much as their is terror on the land for the enemies of the Imperium of the North, in the skies they challenge the dominance of winged beasts. A fleet of Airships have been built and plenty have been launched. Armed with bombs and multibarrel cannons the airships have brought death from above onto those who defy the Imperium.

On the earth the lowly human infantryman and stout dwarf fight side by side. Even though gunpowder has become more popular than ever, melee weapons are still needed. With the hordes of tough demons and orcs, great swords, great hammers, axes and halberds are used by the elites of Gotts Blitz. Militia and those regular soldiers who are assigned them use pikes to defend the ranged footmen.

Above the common infantryman is the cavalry of both the Imperium and Dwarf contingents. The cavalry range from light hussars to the heavily armored cuirassier gun ritters. Then there are the dwarf lizard riders, ranging from the crazed Red Cap's riding bear chested to battle on tri-horned beasts or the Huscarl saurus riders.

In support of the infantry are priests of the protestant faith who if they are true believers have unleashed new powers linked to their god, which are oddly enough like that of their catholic counter parts, but they are viewed as heathens little better than devil worshipers using witch craft . Then there are the dwarf runesmiths and priests who can stop magic spells in their tracks or bless their comrades weapons to easily combat the demons that have come to invade the lands.

Then there are the commanders. Emperor Gustav Aldophus leads Gotts Lightning on the field of battle for the majority of the campaigns. Then there is his wife, Queen Rin of Horthar Hold, who leads the home front. Under both of them are commanders both human and dwarf who have fought together for the past 15 years.

Yet with all this steel, faith and gun powder, Gotts Blitz must soon be tested by new threats every day. It is time for the war drums to be called and Gotts Blitz to march to war!

I had this idea a while back about a civilization of nomadic human colonists that roam one of the satellite galaxies of the milky way scrounging for resources in the mineral poor worlds that exist there. Theirs would have been one of the first colony ships to have left earth and over the millennia of their journey they continuously added onto the original colony ship to where it now spans a length of nearly 2 dozen kilometers. Their technology is primarily derived/developed from what they left earth with with additional recovered alien technology in use. The military of the nomads consists the mothership, various smaller combat craft up to corvet class in size to support it. Ground forces are mostly infantry supported by fighting vehicles converted or developed from civilian vehicles. Being that the civilization is somewhat resource poor, they tend to place material costs over time. What new equipment is made is done made to the highest standard possible and existing equipment is used until it is threadbare. Standardization suffers somewhat because of this as what gets made largely depends on what resources are available at the time.